Mar 13 2012
Venice Communities Fight Gentrification
On March 13, 2012, Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar interviewed Venice area activists about the fight against gentrification: David Busch, an activist with the Spirit of Venice Coalition, Maria Fitzsimmons, and organizer with People Organized for Westside Renewal, or POWER, and Kendra Moore, a POWER leader and president of the Holiday Venice Tenant Action Committee.
Watch a video of the interview here:
Martina Steiner recorded this interview.
8 Responses to “Venice Communities Fight Gentrification”
These activists are completely correct. It’s all about the influx of new money and the effort by a small section of the neighborhood to drive out the local creative community & low income residents.
As developers begin making bigger inroads and wealthier residents demand this “out of sight, out of mind” attitude re: street people, Venice becomes just another “prime piece of real estate” and lurches closer to losing it’s identity as a unique and inclusive center for artists and individuals from all walks of life. And the LAPD’s new boardwalk closure policy is absurd. It’s illegal, and the Coastal Commission will inevitably overturn it. Similarly, the flawed and illegal reinterpretation by the LA City Att’y of the Jones Settlement (which allows sleeping on sidewalks from 9pm-6am throughout LA) is being selectively used as a justification and tactic for mass sweeps of street people from Venice’s public spaces. The LAPD won’t arrest folks ‘violating’ the new Jones misinterpretation because there’s no legal leg to stand on by the CIty Att’y’s office and they know it.
What a crock. Seriously, David is full of bs.
The daily pressure the residents feel that Kendra speaks of is correct. The first program in the 1980’s targeting the long time residents, LAPD and the Code Enforcement group going up and down alleys telling them how their properties should look(fences had to be low, to many cars on a lot) and giving them one month to fix the properties or be fined $100.00 dollars a day. The second wave came thru the known as the “Blight Program Broken Windows, Code Enforcement” which was headed up by Jimmy Hahn City Attorney and LAPD Chief Bratton, and the Code Enforcement of Los Angeles. The community came together and fought the blight program and won, but the long time residents are still under attack by LAPD and Trutanich, and the increased code enforcement(this code enforcement book is so thick that any law that would be needed could be found-ridiculous laws to attack what they deem necessary and right now it is long time residents properties),disguised eminent domain seizure which is illegal!
Venice is famous for its artistic community and people come from all over the world to see the beauty of Venice and its artistic community with original art, the performers and the wonderful atmosphere on the Venice Boardwalk.
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